Birth of a Pilot

“Heya!” Emil pokes his head out from the corner. Something catches his eyes as he looks around the room. He squints at the flowers.

“I told Lorie I was gonna buy the flowers!” He steps out from the corner, carrying a bouquet of orange tulips.

“Hey, I’ll take one of those off your hands if you don’t want ‘em!” A woman with long, dark hair peeks out from the corner. Angelo does not recognize her at all, but her voice sounds familiar. “Hi, Sweetie who doesn’t remember me! I would’ve harped on you a little more for that, but you were in the middle of being in danger.”

“Misty?” Angelo has no idea how he suddenly remembered her name, but he’s glad he did… at least, he hopes that’s her name. “I guess you can take one if you really want. You did kind of help s-save my life and everything…”

“Oh no, I was just joking with you!” She flicks her wrist at him. “They’re for you, I couldn’t possibly take them! Anyway, I wanted to stop by and say hey~ Thanks to you, my shift ended early, ‘cause they’re not letting anyone go back on the surface right now.”

Misty sits in the chair on the other side of the room, while Emil places his flowers next to the captain’s. Upon closer inspection, the lieutenant captain’s eyes look a little red, as if he’s been crying.

Roxie re-enters the room with her arm wrapped around the shoulder of a certain freckled ranger. Mia gives Angelo a weak wave and a smile. She looks haggard, with her hair out of place and weary eyes.

Her shorter friend pats her shoulder. “Wattson, please sit down, you look like you’re going to die.”

“I feel like it.” Mia slumps down into the chair Jun previously sat in. “I wasn’t even in the robot and I felt like I almost died. Anyway, how are you, Angelo?”

“Yeah, how do you feel?” Emil stands close to where Aiden once was.

How does Angelo feel? He has a headache, a sore abdomen, and the right side of his entire body is in pain.

“I’m alive, and I love you guys so much.” He can tell he’s going to be so embarrassed about this when he comes to his senses, but right now, he doesn’t care.

“Awwww!” Misty reacts first. Angelo doesn’t know if she knows he meant her too, but he hopes she does.

“You too, Ange!” Emil winks at him. He never thought he would see that again, but now that he has, he feels blessed. 

“Ah.” Mia hides her blushing face, and looks away, not saying anymore. Angelo doesn’t need her to. The fact that she did so much to save his life means the world to him, whether or not she returns his feelings. Speaking of which...

“You… you s-saved my life, Mia. You too, Misty! I can’t thank you enough!”

“Yeah, you guys were the real MVPs!” Emil agrees. “I mean it. What I was doing wouldn’t have meant anything at all if you guys hadn’t stepped in and actually saved him.” He wipes something from his eyes.

Misty shrugs. “I didn’t do too much. I just kinda sat there and was nosy~’

“Misty, if you hadn’t have checked Romero’s room, we wouldn’t have been able to talk to Angelo! And you called the ambulance!” Mia seems more lively now.

“Ohhhhhh! You must’ve been the one Karl said called before he did.” Emil realizes. Karl. That’s the guy who interrupted Romero in his lab. So he did call... Angelo feels better that he wasn’t forgotten about, but even still, Misty stepped in anyway.

“Oh. I guess you’re right, Sweetie~” Misty smiles at Mia. “I’m not really used to thinking of myself as a life saver. Besides, you were the one all in control and giving out orders and stuff!”

“In control?” The freckled ranger cracks up. “That’s a good one. Just for the record,” She looks around at everyone in the room, especially at Angelo. “I had no idea what I was talking about half the time.”

“Coulda fooled me!” The dark haired ranger flips her hair.

“Me too.” Angelo agrees.

“I was just saying words with my mouth, I didn’t know what they meant! ‘Turn left!’” Mia mimics herself. “What was that even about? Actually. I say I don’t know what I was doing, but that’s kind of wrong. I was just saying things faster than I could really process them, if that makes sense? For example, when I told you to turn left, I knew that if you went head first into the ice.” She motions the course with her hands. “There was a chance that you would’ve been thrown forward, which is exactly what we were trying to avoid in the first place. So if you approached it from an angle, you would’ve fallen on your right si--” Mia facepalms herself. “Angelo, why am I explaining this to you? You lived it.”

“I know, but I don’t entirely understand what went on, either.” admits the patient. “To be honest, I didn’t even know what you were talking about until after you said ‘turn left.’ Th-then, everything just clicked, even though I don’t fully understand it even now.”

“You say we saved your life and everything.” Mia begins. “But you really have to give more credit to yourself, Angelo. You’re the one who actually had to do everything we were telling you. How did you even get out of the cockpit? Do you remember?”

The events are foggy, but they begin coming back to Angelo. “I grabbed the arm handles and then used them to steady myself as I stepped on the cockpit. Don’t ask me how I knew how to do that, I’m still not s-sure. I feel like my brain went into action hero mode, or maybe it wasn’t really all th-that impressive, but...”

“You saved your life.” Misty reminds him. “We helped, but you were impressive, too on your own.”

“This all sounds really stressful.” Roxie observes.

“It was.” Mia, Misty, and Angelo all reply in unison. They and the others begin to laugh.

Mia turns her head toward Emil. “And I can’t even imagine what it was like on the diplomatic side of things. Don’t sell yourself short. If you and the others didn’t do what you did, Romero might still be out there making robots.”

Emil shudders. “You’re right. We all played our part today.” He points at Angelo. “Not dying,” He points between Mia and Misty. “Making sure he doesn’t die,” Finally, he points toward Roxie. “Catching an escaped patient. Seriously, who knows what would’ve happened to that Taji guy if you and Aiden didn’t catch him.”

Roxie sighs. “I don’t even wanna think about it…”

“And Aiden even sent us some of what he told you guys, so even if you guys weren’t in the middle of the action, you helped too.” Emil points at himself. “And thanks to me, Jun, and my bro, Romero won’t get to do any of this again!” His mouth contorts. “You all shoulda seen that guy when he rudely interrupted my meeting with the Commander!” He puts on his whiniest voice to imitate Romero, waving his hands pathetically. “I-I did nothing wrong, sir! This boy is lying! Help me, I’m being attacked by big bad Karl!”

“Was this after he ran out of his room?” Misty leans forward.

“I think so.” Emil continues his mockery, getting more and more ridiculous. “Evewyone’s wying about me, I didn’t thwow my phone, it fell fwom my desk!”

“It must’ve fallen pretty far from his desk.” Misty observes. “It was smashed a couple feet away when I got there.”

“Yeah.” Angelo agrees. “I remember Karl telling Romero not to unplug it. I told Romero to call for help, but he wouldn’t, and th-that’s when-- that’s when Karl got there. After Romero smashed the phone, he basically told me ‘Good luck!’ and ran off.”

“Ohhhh, so that’s what happened?” asks Misty. Angelo nods.

Emil shakes his head. “Disgusting. Trying to act like he was looking out for you and couldn’t even be bothered to call for help.”

“I can kind of understand if he felt responsible and wanted to solve it by himself,” Mia begins. “But even still, it’s really selfish.”

“Yeah…” Angelo, along with some of the others, nods. “I’m glad he left though, before Big Brother showed up.”

At the mention of Leon, Emil starts to crack up. “I can not believe I went this long without talking about that. Give it up for Lasso Boy, Leon Summers! He really went above and beyond!” His eyes sparkle as he leans toward Angelo. “What was it like seeing him do that? I need the mental image, you don’t understand!”

“Me too!” Roxie chimes in. “I want to hear more about the tale of the Lone Star Ranger.”

“That’s so good, Roxie! That’s so good!” Emil cries from laughter.

“Well…” Angelo starts. “I didn’t know it was him at first, s-so I was really confused at why someone was throwing a rope at me. Honestly, I… I th-thought, I thought I was losing my mind at that point.”

“Oh, that’s beautiful…” Emil dries his tears.

“Did Rookie the Wrangler actually catch you?” Roxie asks.

“Roxie, please, I need to breathe!” Emil pleads.

“He did, right before I accidentally… Mia came up with a plan to stop the Starwalker, and it worked, but when I was t-trying to get off, I stepped on the gas pedal, or, I guess it wouldn’t be a ‘gas’ pedal, but you understand what I mean, I th-think.”

“Yeah, I get you.” Emil sobers himself. “I hated that that thing had no good way to climb in and out of it.”

Mia shakes her head. “My heart stopped when I saw the speed go up.” She turns to Emil. “Be glad that you didn’t show up any sooner than you did, because those last few seconds were...” A deep sigh escapes her lungs.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice. I was already a nervous wreck in the Commander’s room, if I had shown up during Angelo crashing, it would’ve killed me.” Emil looks thoughtful. “Even though I’m super jealous of Leon living my dream of being a cowboy… seeing the crash up close must’ve…” He grimaces, then looks at Angelo, smiling warmly. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

As he thinks about it, Angelo wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Leon saw him die. He’s glad that didn’t happen.

“Anyway.” Emil begins. “I’ve probably hogged up enough of your time! ...for today.” He winks. “I’m gonna go catch up with Fitzgerald and see when the trial is. Hopefully, I’ll be able to be there!”

“Can you let me know if I can watch it on TV?” The thought of watching Romero squirm in court fills Angelo with devious glee. 

Emil’s smile reeks with the same emotion. “You can count on me!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Mia interrupts. “Everyone in this room is liable to be called as a witness. We’ll probably have to be there.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Emil taps his chin.

“Either way, I’m probably gonna go back to the ship and pass out.” declares Mia. 

“Well, I guess my job here is done; I just wanted to stop by and say hey.” Misty waves at Angelo. He waves back. “I just had lunch not too long ago, but if any of you wanna go out to eat with me later, hit me up! You too, if you’re free.” She offers to Roxie.

“Yeah, I’d love to!” Roxie accepts. “Wait, I should probably get your number.”

“I’ve already got it.” Mia shakes her phone. “Remind me and I’ll send it to you.”

“Communication acquired!” Roxie pumps her fist.

“Let me know when you guys are headed out. With all this running around, I might forget to eat.” Emil laughs. “I’ll let Leon know too, if that’s cool with you guys.”

“Yeah!” Misty closes her eyes happily.

“Take care, Angelo!” Mia waves goodbye. Angelo also waves.

Emil leaves with one last wink. “See ya!”

“Bye bye~” Misty’s hair swishes behind her as she departs. Roxie and Angelo are left alone once more.

“Shoot!” Roxie realizes something. “I forgot to tell them to let the other people know they can visit… I think they’re visiting someone else anyway, so it’s okaaaay!”

“Other… people?” Angelo can only think of one other person who would want to visit him right now. Other than that, he has no idea who Roxie could be talking about.

“I should probably tell you who they are, just in case you don’t want them here. It’s the Starwalker’s crew. When Jun and the captain were investigating them, they realized they didn’t like Romero anymore, but if you don’t want them here, then I can banish them for you!”

Romero’s crew? Why would they want to see Angelo? He feels a little uneasy. They have every reason not to like Angelo right now, since he destroyed their hard work. But if they hate Romero….

“S-sure, they can come in.”

“Are you suuuuure?” Roxie leans in while saying the drawn-out word.

“Yeah.”

“Okie-dokie~!” Roxie’s cheerfulness could be medicine on its own. Angelo feels at ease with her here. He’s a little anxious about meeting his real doctor, though.

That anxiety gets worse as a knock sounds on the door. Roxie goes to open it.

“Ah, come in!”